"𝓦𝓱𝔂 𝓪𝓻𝓮 𝓫𝓵𝓾𝓮 𝓳𝓮𝓪𝓷𝓼 𝓪 𝓬𝓵𝓪𝓼𝓼𝓲𝓬? 𝓨𝓸𝓾 𝓳𝓾𝓼𝓽 𝓱𝓲𝓽 𝓸𝓷 𝓼𝓸𝓶𝓮𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓽𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝓱𝓪𝓹𝓹𝓮𝓷𝓼 𝓽𝓸 𝓫𝓮 𝓽𝓲𝓶𝓮𝓵𝓮𝓼𝓼 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓻𝓲𝓰𝓱𝓽."

"Stop pacing." Alaric didn't even look up from his homework, but he knew you were walking in circles behind him.

"But - but I haven't even been to the Lair in weeks!" You said dragging your hands down your face. "And I've missed out on a bunch of stuff! Leo texted me the other day and said that he fought the giant, Mega Shredder Arthropod thing from the news! I was literally in the middle of changing my internship to a different company while it was happening! I can't believe I missed it!"

"Oh my God - shut up." He grumbled, massaging the bridge of his nose.

"I'm serious, Alaric!" You said turning to him. "Your homework can wait! I can finish it all in 2 hours!"

"This is 4 weeks of homework that I missed from at least 5 classes." He said with a deadpan, but your expression didn't waver and he simply gave a sigh and turned around. "Alright, whatever. Keep talking."

"Great, now I need your help! How am I supposed to convince my parents to let me stay? Especially since yours got in huge trouble for letting me get 'kidnapped'."

"How am I supposed to know?" He asked. "I guess you could make an excuse and say that because you were kidnapped, you need more time to study here in New York City?"

You stopped in your tracks, your eyes going wide. "Yes!" You turned to him with a wide smile. "That's it! If I keep lying, eventually I'll be able to stay in NYC for at least another year!"

Alaric looked at you with skepticism. "Isn't lying supposed to be a bad thing? How long do you think you can pull this off?"

"As long as I have to." You said with a serious expression. "I promised Leo I would stay, and I will."

Alaric noticed your expression shifting from that of determination to mild sadness. He sighed, how much trouble would you go through for these mutants? I mean really, look at all the trouble you'd already been through so far. "Alright, stop sulking!" He said finally. "I'll convince my parents to let you stay with them too. I'm sure they'll love to have a successful child around."

Your eyes went wide and then you turned to Alaric. "That's right... you're supposed to be graduating this year..." You muttered.

"Supposed to." He said flipping his pencil in his hands. "Because I failed all my classes in the last semester, and because of the alien invasion, I'm being held back a semester to finish." He threw his pencil behind him and made jazz hands. "Super-senior, yay!" He said sarcastically.

You shifted back and forth on your feet until you finally took a seat on his bed. "Well did you at least apply for colleges?" 

Alaric let out a exaggerated and bitter laugh as he threw his head back. "Are you kidding me? I thought I was going to be with the Purple Dragons forever. How was I supposed to go to college as a criminal?" He sighed despite his words. "But my parents basically applied for me. I got an acceptance letter back from the local community college and from NYU."

"WAIT, wait!" You said, making hand motions. "YOU got accepted into NYU? You're joking."

Alaric laughed at your reaction. "I was a good kid before you came along. Hell I was a nerd like you... I just... had a bit of a rough patch."

"But - but what about your several failed classes?" You asked with wide eyes.

"Parents blamed it on the alien invasion." He muttered as he leaned against the back of his chair.

You flopped back onto his bed, staring into nothingness. "Holy shit." You muttered. "Can your parents write my letters of recommendation too?"

The both of you burst out into laughter.

"Now keep talking about your friends before you do the rest of my homework." Alaric said before you sat back up again.

"Right, yeah like I was saying... A lot's been going on lately. They made a new friend, encountered Karai and she poisoned them - and you'll never believe this shit - she kissed Casey! He told me all about it and I'm just -" You shivered. "I can't even imagine it."

You both laughed. "Stop hating on the toothless kid." Alaric chuckled. "I'm sure he's knocked in twice as many teeth as he's lost."

"Well yeah, no doubt there." You muttered, before your expression turned a bit more solemn. "But one thing did worry me... Leo said that they were all poisoned, but they couldn't reach me... I was in my new internship when they needed me - UGH I'm a terrible friend."

Alaric stared at you as your shoved your face into your hands. "You're being dramatic, suck it up and keep talking. I'm assuming they're not all dead?"

"No." You said looking up. "But that's just it - the 'healing mantras' that Splinter has make no sense what so ever, but they worked. They've no scientific background, and I know that science can basically no longer be valid in the eyes of different universes, literal magic, and aliens, but my point still stands."

Alaric only shook his head. "There's no point in dwelling over it."

"But that's just it. I should be... but I'm not, I've just accepted it at this point. Still, I feel like I should be doing something, but I... I never have time anymore." You slowly felt yourself wilting, as if you were helpless.

"Yes you do." Alaric said matter-of-factly. "You do have time, but you're wasting it worrying like you are now. Get up, we're heading there now." He stood from his seat and grabbed his keys.

You simply stared at him as he opened the door to his room and he looked back to see you hadn't moved. "Well? Let's go!" You stared in shock for a moment before you jumped off his bed and you both headed towards the Lair.

Little did you know that none of them were even near by.

Karai had gotten to them first.